Bell Media
CTV News London • CFPL-TV
London, Ontario, Canada • Founded in 1953
CTV News London is a television station covering local, breaking news and weather in London, Ontario, Canada.
The station went on air in 1953, becoming one of the first private television stations in Canada. It was started by Walter Blackburn, whose family would go on to have a media monopoly in London. Later on, in the 1960s, the station became one of the first to air an hour-long 6 p.m. newscast and by 1968 would be named "Station of the Year." The station also was known for having the highest television tower, at 911 feet, in Canada and would be broadcasting in color by the end of the decade. The 1990s was a rocky period for the station, which changed ownership three times and lost millions of dollars. The station changed ownership again in 2007 when CTV announced plans to acquire CHUM LTD. The station moved from analogue to digital broadcasting in 2011 and was re-branded as CTV Two London.
- Jennifer McLellan – General manager
Best Practices Policies
CTV News London inherits best practices policies from its parent news organization CTV News.
Mission
CTV News' mission is to be Canada's most trusted English language news source. It aims to accomplish this mission by providing relevant, timely, fair and accurate information across broadcast and digital platforms.
Ethics
CTV News’ newsgathering is structured to be independent of commercial or political interests. Its policy prohibits journalists from accepting gifts, including paid travel, to avoid any conflict-of-interest or appearance thereof. When relying on an organization for a product or access to an event, CTV's newsroom strives to be transparent about the relationship and note it within the relevant work. The newsroom is insulated from advertisers and underwriters by a firewall. All CTV News properties, news directors, producers, editors and journalists are expected to follow the internal CTV News Policy Handbook, which specifies strict adherence to the RTDNA Code of Journalistic Ethics and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) Code of Ethics.
Ownership & Funding
CTV News is part of Bell Media, a subsidiary of BCE Inc., and is funded through advertising revenue. CTV News does not receive government funding or subsidies.
Diverse Voices
As part of Bell Media, CTV News strives to represent ethnocultural groups, Indigenous people, and people with disabilities in a balanced and accurate manner. The station's policy is to seek out diverse voices in the type of stories covered, in sources, on-screen, on the air, behind the scenes and within the workforce. Bell Media says understanding the composition of its workforce is the heart of its diversity and inclusion strategy. Employees are asked to complete a diversity questionnaire that is analyzed monthly. Reports on this data along with their action plans are presented to Bell Media's diversity leadership council, so it can monitor progress against benchmarks and established goals in its efforts to employ and build a diverse workforce.
Corrections
The CTV News corrections policy covers how errors in news video, online articles and photo captions are corrected, the placement of correction notices and clarifications. Once an error has been made, CTV News journalists will endeavor to promptly correct significant errors of fact in their journalism.
The placement of a correction depends upon how critical the error is when it is discovered and the repercussions of the error. When correcting a significant error in an online article, photo caption, video or other content, the news organization's policy is to post a correction on the story page explaining the alteration in a timely fashion.
When the reporting may be accurate, but the wording used is not clear as it should be, CTV News will consider rewriting the story and/or publishing a clarification.
Unnamed Sources
CTV News' objective is to get everything "on the record." According to the station's unnamed source policy, journalists must guard against those who wish to use anonymity as a means to hide the truth, deride opponents or manipulate public opinion.
There are circumstances when permitting anonymity is necessary to obtain sensitive information vital to the public good or where the source might face harm, legal jeopardy or loss of livelihood for speaking with the news media.
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